Well, it's been a year. It seems pointless to ruminate on the political events of 2017 because it's all we talk about anymore. A slew of garbage men were exposed as such, but it's good because we are finally believing women, and men are being punished (kinda) for their inexcusable actions. There are also some phenomena that I definitely forgot about from the past 12 months. Things like "The Young Pope." Salt Bae. "The Boss Baby." The Fyre Festival that wasn't. The eclipse. And have we so quickly forgotten the man who loves his curvy wife?! The year that ushered in Trump's presidency and the latest "Transformers" installment also blessed us with "The Leftovers" finale (Carrie Coon was robbed!), "Get Out" and that little girl sauntering into her dad's Skype interview with the BBC.

I've been thinking about what has changed for me this past year: I cut off my hair. I did the Whole30 (poorly). We got a second cat. I started kickboxing. My grandmother died. I just (literally today) started therapy. I watched an insane amount of television, including "The West Wing" (hated it), "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (loved it) and "The Sopranos" (still working through it). I listened to a lot of Weezer and cut back on dairy. I've been reading and writing more regularly, and I'm slowly improving my sleep schedule. Look at me, Mom!

And so, along with everyone else, I've written an annual end-of-year list. But since I never read listicles in full anyways, I just categorically included things — in no particular order — that I enjoyed to make it easier on the 'ol peepers. My only real criteria was that everything had to come out this year (unless stated otherwise) and it had to bring me joy. Thassit! I hope you discovered some new and beautiful things in 2017.

Listened

Photos courtesy of You've Changed Records and Top Dawg Entertainment

Top music albums:"In Search of Lost Time" by Partner"DAMN." by Kendrick Lamar "Ctrl" by SZA"Big Fish Theory" by Vince Staples

Photos courtesy of 604, Atlantic Records and Universal Latin

Top songs:"HUMBLE." and "DNA." by Kendrick Lamar"Cut to the Feeling" by Carly Rae Jepsen"BakBak" by Vince Staples"Supermodel" by SZA"Bodak Yellow" by Cardi B"Comfort Zone" by Partner"Despacito (Featuring Daddy Yankee)" by Luis Fonsi"Portland" by Drake, Quavo and Travis Scott

Favourite cameos:Jason Mantzoukas as Derek Hofstetler in "The Good Place"Michael Cera as Wally Brando in "Twin Peaks: The Return"Hannibal Buress and Donald Glover in "Spiderman: Homecoming"Maya Rudolph as Dionne Warwick in "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt"

Photos courtesy of HBO, Netflix and Showtime

Favourite TV episodes:"The Book of Nora" from "The Leftovers""New York, I Love You" from "Master of None""Time's Arrow" from "BoJack Horseman""Part 8" from "Twin Peaks: The Return""The Laser-inth" from "Bob's Burgers"

*This sketch features Louis C.K., but I felt that it still warranted inclusion based on the quality of the sketch and out of respect for the "SNL" cast and crew

Read

Photos courtesy of Little, Brown; HarperCollins and Riverhead Books

Favourite books:"Priestdaddy" by Patricia Lockwood"TV (The Book): Two Experts Pick the Greatest American Shows of All Time" by Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz"Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body" by Roxane Gay"One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter" by Scaachi Koul"Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng

Photos courtesy of Bobby Doherty for The Cut, Dylann Roof via GQ and An Rong Xu for the New York Times

Pop culture disappointments / stuff I couldn't get into

Music:"Sleep Well Beast" by The National"Flower Boy" by Tyler, the Creator"Science Fiction" by Brand New"Wonderful Wonderful" by The Killers"Something to Tell You" by HAIM"A Deeper Understanding" by The War on Drugs"Rainbow" by Kesha"Number 1 Angel" by Charli XCX

Things are terrible. And when things are terrible, I often want to reenact the Lady of Shalott scene from "Anne of Green Gables," where Anne floats down the riverdramatically in a sinking canoe. Starting last week, women began accusing Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein of inappropriate conduct, ranging from sexual harassment to rape. Both the New York Times and the New Yorker published damning exposés of Weinstein's mistreatment of women over the years, which then resurrected less-than-flattering accounts of Ben Affleck, David O. Russell and Michael Bay, among others, who have been accused of inappropriate, verbally abusive and lecherous conduct, respectively. Fortunately, this has also caused many victims of sexual harassment and assault to tell their own stories with the hashtag #MeToo.

And this is on top of all of the natural disasters, the horrific slaughtering in Somalia, the refugee crisis in Myanmar and the impending doom of whatever Trump will do or say next. But since this is 2017 and we must suck what little marrow there is out of life, there are some silver linings. There's a new "Star Wars" movie coming out this year! "Stranger Things" comes back soon! You will apparently be able to stream Amazon Prime sometime this fall on your Apple TV (but I'm still waiting on that, Jeff Bezos)! Thanksgiving is just around the corner! etc.! Below are 20 more things that are giving me joy right now.

1. Rachel and Griffin McElroy's new podcast, "Wonderful!"If I'm being honest, "Wonderful!" inspired me to write this listicle, so credit where credit is due. The wife and husband duo used to host a show called "Rose Buddies," which was a "Bachelor"/"Bachelorette" fancast. But after some skeezy news came out about "Bachelor in Paradise," they felt they could no longer in good conscience talk about the show. And since that's what the McElroys do best, they zagged on 'em, and changed their show to "Wonderful!," which is literally just about things that the couple enjoy. It is so incredibly sweet and positive, and it's adorable hearing their loving banter.

Plenty happens in "Mad Men" season 3 episode 7, like Peggy and Duck's secret romance and Don getting mugged by hitchhikers. But there are other, more significant parts of "Seven Twenty Three" that are a turning point for "Mad Men." For one, it marks the beginning of several relationships—most notably Don with the rosy-cheeked Miss Farrell and Betty with Henry, the silver fox who works in the governor's office. It also marks the advent of Don's professional relationship with Conrad "Connie" Hilton, who Don finds in his office one morning—in his chair, no less—ready to wheel and deal. “Now, you’re a married man, so you’ll have to use your imagination, but I have this involvement," Connie tells Don slyly. "I can’t say it’s perfect, and my needs are being met, but I have significant needs, Don.”

Connie is presumably alluding to his working relationships, which is why he wants Don to manage some New York locations. Although the Hilton account would be a huge win, Don isn't satisfied, because it would mean signing a contract (something he's somehow avoided up to this point at Sterling Cooper). And when he's confronted by Cooper, Pryce and Sterling about it, he retorts, “Still, I don’t think anyone told [Hilton] that it matters to me.” Don wants what he wants, no matter how it affects the people around him.

And, much like Hilton, Don has significant needs. We see this full well on Saturday, the day of an eclipse. Sally's class gathers to make camera obscuras out of cardboard boxes with the help of their teacher, Miss Farrell. Their dads are also in attendance and stand off to the side, all watching the pretty, young instructor. The kids put on their cardboard boxes, like ostriches with their heads in the sand, oblivious of what the adults are up to.